Squad news

THINKING OF RACING

08 Apr 2010A one-hour conversation is what marked the training session on Wednesday, while Lotina announced that Laure and Raul will be the side defenders against Racing. The Cantabrians arrive with two casualties at their squad, and with the doubt of Canales.

Lotina talked to his players during one hour; the meeting took place at one of the pitches at Abegondo, away from the flashes of the cameras. It was a conversation with the members of the first team to examine the problems and possible solutions after suffering four straight defeats in la liga competition.

The good news came with the recovery of Pablo Álvarez, who already surpassed his ankle sprain and is fit to play on Sunday. Same case than Juan Dominguez, the youngster missed the past game with Atletico Madrid due to an ankle problem, but by Wednesday he was already fine. Even Mista has surpassed the hamstring injury that has sidelined him within the past week.

Only Lassad seems to be evolving slowly, but Lotina announced that the Tunisian striker will join the trainings today, which means that he could be ready to play on Sunday. In this way only Filipe, Angulo and Juca will remain out.

But La Voz De Galicia announced on Wednesday that Manuel Pablo is carrying with a muscular problem since some weeks ago, the injury could be a tendonitis and hasn’t prevented to see the Canarian performing in la liga, but has truly lowered his performance. The same player explained the problem to the newspaper, “It’s a problem with the nerve; I believe it’s a tendonitis, though nothing is clear in the scans. It’s something that makes me feel uncomfortable at the moment of making some strong movements.”

“I notice the problem, so maybe my leg is not responding at the proper way and it affects me, but I neither think is a fundamental thing affecting my performance. The solution is to rest, I know it and the doctors know it, but in the situation that we are living… with only two side defenders at the team and with the youngsters… and also because the treatment has reduced the pain, so I will try to continue like this until the end.” The player added.

For the moment Manuel Pablo has been treated with shock waves, but Lotina already realised that the player is making a big sacrifice, and despite the will of the Canarian defender the coach already announced that he will make changes for the game with Racing. According to the Basque coach his idea is to move Laure to the right-back position and allow the debut as starter of Raúl Garcia, this time performing at the left side of defence, though the same Lotina also gave options to Diego Seoane, who already played there in the home game against Real Valladolid.

At Racing, the team coached by Miguel Angel Portugal is arriving to the Riazor after suffering two straight defeats and also has two confirmed casualties for injury reasons: keeper Toño (lumbalgia) and central defender Henrique (meniscus), while ex-Depor Pedro Munitis, Oriol (both ankle sprain) and Pape Diop (hamstring) are already recovered from their problems.

But the big news is that the star of the team, Sergio Canales, didn’t end Wednesday’s training session due to an adductor problem, new scans will be made on Friday and the doctors fear that he has suffered a tear in a muscle, therefore the youngster is doubtful for the match at the Riazor. It could be the last game for him before joining the U-19 squad that’s searching the qualification to the UEFA European championship, reason why he will miss the clashes against Espanyol and Xérez.